Chapter 7: Human Memory (1)

Question 1

What are the three key processes involved in memory?

Answer 1

• Encoding (getting information in)
• Storage (maintaining it)
• Retrieval (getting it out).

Question 1

Psychologists probing the workings of memory have had to grapple with three enduring questions, what are these questions?

Answer 1

1. How does information get into memory?
2. How is information maintained in memory?
3. How is information pulled back out of memory?

Question 2

Define encoding.

Answer 2

Encoding involves forming a memory code. Encoding usually requires attention.

For ex: when you form a memory code for a word, you might emphasize how it looks, how it sounds, or what it means

Question 3

Define Storage.

Answer 3

Storage involves maintaining encoded information in memory over time.

Question 4

Define retrieval.

Answer 4

Retrieval involves recovering information from memory stores.

Question 5

What causes forgetfulness?

Answer 5

Forgetting may be due to deficiencies in any of the three key processes in memory—encoding, storage, or retrieval

Question 6

Define Attention.

Answer 6

Attention involves focusing awareness
on a narrowed range of stimuli or events.

Question 7

How is attention likened to a filter?

Answer 7

Attention is often likened to a filter that screens out most potential stimuli while allowing a select few to pass through into conscious awareness.

Question 8

What is the “cocktail party phenomenon”? What does it suggest about attention?

Answer 8

The ability to focus one’s attention a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli.

Cocktail party phenomenon suggests that attention involves late selection, based on the meaning of input

Question 9

What did Craik& Lockhart propose about memory?

Answer 9

Craik and Lockhart propose that incoming information can be processed at different levels.
For ex, they maintain that in dealing with verbal information, people engage in three progressively deeper levels of processing: structural, phonemic, and
semantic encoding

Question 10

What does the levels-of-processing theory propose?

Answer 10

Levels-of-processing theory proposes
that deeper levels of processing result in longer-lasting memory codes.

Question 11

Explain the first level of processing.

Answer 11

Structural encoding is a relatively shallow processing that emphasizes the
physical structure of the stimulus.

For ex, if words are flashed on a screen, structural encoding registers such matters as how they were printed (capital letters, lowercase, and so on) or the length of the words (how many letters).

Question 12

Explain the second level of processing.

Answer 12

Phonemic encoding, emphasizes what a word sounds like.

Phonemic encoding involves naming or
saying (perhaps silently) the words.

Question 13

Explain the third level of processing.

Answer 13

Semantic encoding emphasizes the meaning of verbal input; it involves thinking about the objects and actions the words represent.

Question 14

What are the dimensions to
encoding that enriches and improve memory?

Answer 14

Elaboration, Visual imagery, and self-referent coding

Question 15

Define Elaboration.

Answer 15

Elaboration is linking a stimulus to other information at the time of encoding.

For ex, let’s say you read that phobias are often caused by classical conditioning, and you apply this idea to your fear of spiders

Question 16

Which level of processing is enriched by elaboration?

Answer 16

Semantic encoding/processing

Question 17

Explain visual imagery.

Answer 17

Imagery—the creation of visual images to represent the words to be remembered.

Some words are easier to create images than others.

Question 18

Who pointed out that it is easier to form images of concrete objects than of
abstract concepts?

Answer 18

Allan Paivio

Question 19

Explain Paivio’s theory.

Answer 19

Dual-coding theory holds that memory is enhanced by forming semantic and visual codes, since either can lead to recall